50k? 75k? Possible on AA?
Apr 8, 2015, 3:35 am
#16
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: LAX
Programs: Hyatt Globalist, AA EXP, Hilton Diamond, Wyndham Diamond, DL PM, Marriott Platinum, IHG Platinum
Posts: 1,305
Any suggestions for 20-25K 3 day weekends on AA/US? Very doable for me since I don't work Fridays and my SO is a nurse and she has to work 2 weekends a month leaving me with nothing to do. I don't mind bumming it in Y as long as I have my iPad loaded with movies and my phone loaded with podcasts (and hopefully an aisle seat 
) I'm a bit of a fish out of water here so any help would be greatly appreciated.
) I'm a bit of a fish out of water here so any help would be greatly appreciated.
Apr 8, 2015, 7:24 am
#17
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: RDU
Posts: 735
Many YYZ fares still in that range (RDM's though, of course.) Some MXP-EZE showing decent fares as well. Probably could do YYZ-MIA-MXP-JFK-EZE-JFK-MXP-MIA-YYZ all in three days of flying, though as two tickets, can be about $1200 to $1300 if you can still find the apx $600 each (YYZ-MXP RT and a nested MXP-EZE RT.) Can't see anyway to do much more given the connection times, plus the speed of the aircraft in doing 25k BIS, apx 50 hrs alone.
Apr 8, 2015, 6:58 pm
#18
Join Date: Oct 2014
Posts: 503
Not sure where you're located or if there's any availability left but last year I did something like SAN-LAX-ORD-NRT-CGK-NRT-LAX-DFW-SAN for about 23k miles. Used to be relatively easy to find 4 day trips with a very occasional 3 day. Fares were in the $850-$1k range
If you can start on the West Coast and then go east before heading west to somewhere in SE Asia you can usually get 20-25k. Can sometimes get close to 20k to PVG or PEK as well and there are decent fares every so often (and those you can definitely do in 3 days).
Think there were also some decent fares to CPT/JNB which earned about the same but those might have all been 4 day trips.
If you can start on the West Coast and then go east before heading west to somewhere in SE Asia you can usually get 20-25k. Can sometimes get close to 20k to PVG or PEK as well and there are decent fares every so often (and those you can definitely do in 3 days).
Think there were also some decent fares to CPT/JNB which earned about the same but those might have all been 4 day trips.
Apr 8, 2015, 7:02 pm
#19
Join Date: Oct 2014
Posts: 503
I have never done this but have been thinking about this as well and the only reasonable (best bang for the buck) solution I can come up with is try and do about 8 to 10K miles a day over a weekend for around 4 cents. At that rate, for around $5,000, one should be able to get Exec Platinum status and 100K RDMs. Depending on how much one values the RDMs at, net cost is well under $ 4K.
Apr 8, 2015, 11:54 pm
#20
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: NYC
Programs: AA EXP, SPG Plat, Marriott Silver, HH Gold
Posts: 797
Apr 9, 2015, 4:46 am
#21
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: BOS/BTV
Programs: Delta Plat, former AA EXP, AS Gold, SPG Gold, IHG Plat.
Posts: 659
..... as mentioned in passing earlier there is a time-limiting factor on doing mega-MR weekends,
Ground speed of a longhaul trip is typically 500mph, roughly speaking, so your earn rate maxes out at 500 miles per BIS hour flying, and declines if you have changes or layovers.
One can improve the earn rate by booking biz or first class fares for bonus eqm, but the cpm there is almost always more than flying in the back. Advantage of biz/first is that it's much more bearable than the 31 inch pitch in economy - which gets especially wearing on longhaul.....
Ground speed of a longhaul trip is typically 500mph, roughly speaking, so your earn rate maxes out at 500 miles per BIS hour flying, and declines if you have changes or layovers.
One can improve the earn rate by booking biz or first class fares for bonus eqm, but the cpm there is almost always more than flying in the back. Advantage of biz/first is that it's much more bearable than the 31 inch pitch in economy - which gets especially wearing on longhaul.....
Apr 9, 2015, 8:09 pm
#22
Moderator, Amtrak & Spirit Airlines
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: EWR :rolleyes:
Programs: AC 50K, AS MVP, AA Plat Pro, DL Plat, UA Silver, IHG Spire, Marriott Titanium, Hertz PC
Posts: 9,610
Apr 9, 2015, 8:43 pm
#23
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: MSP
Programs: DL GM, AMEX Business Platinum, AMEX Delta Reserve, DL SkyClub Member, Choice PM
Posts: 2,218
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/milea...g-error-9.html
One way FIRST Class fares from DXB/ Dubai to AUS/ Austin available for $1500 or so.
These are bookable at www.expedia.com or you can do a search using Kayak.com and then book at the site that Kayak.com leads you to.
Actual Distance in miles DXB-LHR-DFW/JFK/ORD- AUS = 8000 Medallion Qualification Miles
If you can travel to DXB on mileage or on cheap coach class fares you can achieve this rather inexpensively.
There are rather cheap coach fares from ORD and JFK to DXB.
Last edited by dd1612; Apr 9, 2015 at 8:55 pm
Apr 9, 2015, 10:37 pm
#24
Join Date: Oct 2014
Posts: 503
With Barclays you pay for the ticket with your card and redeem miles for a statement credit so it's a paid flight. With Citi ThankYou Points you redeem TYPs for paid tickets with Citi's booking service. So while they are "award tickets" in that I'm not actually paying any money for them, as far as AA is concerned your paid cash for those tickets.
Apr 9, 2015, 10:48 pm
#25
Join Date: Oct 2014
Posts: 503
You may want to check out this.
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/milea...g-error-9.html
One way FIRST Class fares from DXB/ Dubai to AUS/ Austin available for $1500 or so.
These are bookable at www.expedia.com or you can do a search using Kayak.com and then book at the site that Kayak.com leads you to.
Actual Distance in miles DXB-LHR-DFW/JFK/ORD- AUS = 8000 Medallion Qualification Miles
If you can travel to DXB on mileage or on cheap coach class fares you can achieve this rather inexpensively.
There are rather cheap coach fares from ORD and JFK to DXB.
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/milea...g-error-9.html
One way FIRST Class fares from DXB/ Dubai to AUS/ Austin available for $1500 or so.
These are bookable at www.expedia.com or you can do a search using Kayak.com and then book at the site that Kayak.com leads you to.
Actual Distance in miles DXB-LHR-DFW/JFK/ORD- AUS = 8000 Medallion Qualification Miles
If you can travel to DXB on mileage or on cheap coach class fares you can achieve this rather inexpensively.
There are rather cheap coach fares from ORD and JFK to DXB.
EDIT: Fare mistake is now gone. Showing for ~$6k now.
Last edited by ILGfly; Apr 9, 2015 at 11:02 pm
Apr 10, 2015, 12:51 am
#26
Join Date: Oct 2014
Posts: 503
I wasn't paying attention to the fare classes. These were full fare F tickets. This actually would have been worth it (including me taking a day off work burning miles for the positioning flight in DXB) for the US segments alone since they should have qualified for the 3x EQPs. Live and learn...
Apr 14, 2015, 7:12 pm
#27
Join Date: Jul 2013
Programs: Marriott Tit, Hyatt Diamond, AA EXP, UA Silver, IHG Plat
Posts: 427
Apr 16, 2015, 3:32 pm
#28
Join Date: Jun 2001
Location: Victoria, B.C.
Programs: Hyatt Globalist, AA Gold LT
Posts: 1,936
To earn at the quickest rate 3X EQP, you need a full fare J or F. These rarely are cheap. As well the fare must be marketed as an AA flight, and operated by a limited number of one-world partners (not all partners are included)
Myself the only reasonable ones I have seen in the past are from places like CMB, or Cairo. Those full fare, unrestricted tickets are becoming more rare for reasonable prices. Pretty well dead I believe. Especially to get as a marketed AA fare.
OK, that leaves us with discounted F, or discounted J (A, I,D,C etc fares)
These we have seen a little, but most are in the 15-20 CPM is good, and with the double EQP, that could bring it down to 7.5-10 cents per point.
For example, there is a current fare form JFK-CDG that could be booked LGA-ORD-CDG for $1500 as an AA marketed fare (cheaper if you go for a BA marketed fare but that would not qualify as the double points) Also remember the double points don't have minimums, so a LHR-CDG for example is only 215 X 2 = 430 EQP's doubled
In the killer deal NYC - CDG example, that works out to about 20,000 miles for $1500 or about 7.5 EQP (you need a Saturday stay so for about $3000 you can get 40K in 2 weekends, or if going from 0-100K, you could get EXP for about $7500)
So be reasonable. I would think aiming for a goal of 7.5 cents per point, or about $7500 for Ex. Plat would be pretty good (especially if you compare it with a relatively good fare of $1500 NYC-Paris)
Myself the only reasonable ones I have seen in the past are from places like CMB, or Cairo. Those full fare, unrestricted tickets are becoming more rare for reasonable prices. Pretty well dead I believe. Especially to get as a marketed AA fare.
OK, that leaves us with discounted F, or discounted J (A, I,D,C etc fares)
These we have seen a little, but most are in the 15-20 CPM is good, and with the double EQP, that could bring it down to 7.5-10 cents per point.
For example, there is a current fare form JFK-CDG that could be booked LGA-ORD-CDG for $1500 as an AA marketed fare (cheaper if you go for a BA marketed fare but that would not qualify as the double points) Also remember the double points don't have minimums, so a LHR-CDG for example is only 215 X 2 = 430 EQP's doubled
In the killer deal NYC - CDG example, that works out to about 20,000 miles for $1500 or about 7.5 EQP (you need a Saturday stay so for about $3000 you can get 40K in 2 weekends, or if going from 0-100K, you could get EXP for about $7500)
So be reasonable. I would think aiming for a goal of 7.5 cents per point, or about $7500 for Ex. Plat would be pretty good (especially if you compare it with a relatively good fare of $1500 NYC-Paris)
Apr 17, 2015, 5:01 pm
#29
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: NYC
Programs: AA EXP, SPG Plat, Marriott Silver, HH Gold
Posts: 797
If you're flexible and can position, I've found with some of the QR sales and other sales happening that you can get around 5.2 CPP. Not as good as some of the 2.7-3.9 CPM fares in economy, but if you're short on time you can do fewer MRs in comfort.
Apr 17, 2015, 5:20 pm
#30
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Multiple locations
Programs: AAdvantage ExPlat LT Gold, BA Silver, Aegean Star Gold
Posts: 5,037
if you are flexible and can position once, you could get to EXP from Scratch for under 4500 all in Business Class with the QR sales (plus 4 AA flights) and some 150K in RDMs, did that for a client recently...